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Sally O. Lee is back with another imaginative, unique creation. When circle meets square, circle is curious if square is always the same: brushing his teeth, bouncing a ball, at bathtime, and in other situations. Square assures circle that he’s always the same no matter what he’s doing. Simple in nature, this story is one of friendship and acceptance. Parents could even use this book as a teaching point for how their love remains constant no matter what happens.

A delightful story coupled with Lee’s adorable artwork is waiting for your young reader in Circle and Square.

Rating:

Paperback: 34 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (March 12, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1482676850
ISBN-13: 978-1482676853

I received a free copy of this book from the author. This review contains my honest opinions, for which I have not been compensated in any way.

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Bella and Britt are worried about all the trash appearing on their beautiful beach. But what can they do? Britt is leaving on vacation, and Bella can’t solve the problem alone. Without adults to lend a hand, can they possibly save their beach?

Purchase from:

NANCYSTEWARTBOOKS.COM

 GUARDIAN ANGEL PUBLISHING 

AMAZON

 BARNES AND NOBLE

Earth Day—Every Human’s Responsibility
by Nancy Stewart

Ah, yes, Earth Day.  We think about it once a year.  Celebrate it?  Let’s not go overboard.  After all, aren’t the governments of the world doing something about it—whatever it is?

Earth Day, founded by Senator Gaylord Nelson, was first organized in 1970 to promote ecology and respect for life on the plane.  It has come a long way from then with one hundred forty countries around the globe participating this year.  And counting.  Earth Day, very much like Earth Hour, has taken on a life of its own.

Here is one of the most outstanding projects we should be talking about for Earth Day, 2013. It is The Canopy Project. Over the past three years, this project has planted over 1.5 million trees in 18 countries.  In the US, projects to restore urban canopies have been completed in many large cities.  In Haiti alone, where earthquakes caused landslides on deforested hillsides, leading to horrific devastation, Earth Day Network planted 500,000 trees.  In three high-poverty districts in central Uganda, they planted 350,000 trees to provide local farmers with food, fuel, fencing, and soil stability.

Climate change can seem like a remote problem for our leaders, but the fact is that it’s already impacting real people, animals, and beloved places. These Faces of Climate Change are multiplying every day. What can be done about it?  Each of us, individually, can make a difference.  When we all do our share, the entire world can begin to heal itself.

I’ve pledged to not use plastic bags, to using cold water in the washing machine and to using earth friendly cleaning products.  We’ve changed all light bulbs to save electricity, and they are turned off when leaving a room.  I remind students when doing a book signing that turning off a light helps save a polar bear!

But it’s more than these things, isn’t it?  Helping save our planet is really a state of mind.  It’s being in the flow of good ecology every day, even every minute. And soon, it’s a way of life.  Living this state of mind will help save all our lives and the lives of those to come, our children and our grandchildren. What better ongoing gift can we give to anyone than a sustainable, green and whole planet?  Oh, and it’s not, of course, just April 22.  It’s every day, every minute for the rest of our lives.

 

Nancy is the bestselling and award winning author of the four Bella and Britt Series books for children:  One Pelican at a Time (eighteen weeks on Amazon Bestselling List), Sea Turtle Summer, (which won the Children’s Literary Classic Gold Award), Bella Saves the  Beach (which won the Gold)  and Mystery at Manatee Key.  The authorized biography, Katrina and Winter:  Partners in Courage, is the story of Katrina Simpkins and Winter, the dolphin. One Pelican at a Time and Nancy were featured in the PBS Tampa special, GulfWatch.   All are published by Guardian Angel Publishing.  

Nancy is a frequent speaker and presenter at writer’s conferences throughout the United States.  She conducts workshops and seminars and speaks to school children on writing and helping save their planet.  A blogger with a worldwide audience, she writes of all things pertaining to children’s literature. 

Nancy’s travels take her extensively throughout the world, most particularly Africa. She is US chair of a charity in Lamu, Kenya, that places girls in intermediate schools to allow them to further their education.   She and her husband live in Tampa and St. Louis. 

 Visit her online at www.nancystewartbooks.com and her blog at http://www.nancystewartbooks.blogspot.com

 

Bella Saves the Beach Tour Schedule

 

Monday, April 22^nd

Guest post at The Children’s and Teens’ Book Connection

Tuesday, April 23^rd

Book trailer feature at If Books Could Talk

Wednesday, April 24^th

Book review at On Words – Opening Eyes, Opening Hearts

Thursday, April 25^th

Book spotlight and giveaway at The Busy Mom’s Daily

Book review at Shannon Hitchcock Pen and Prose

Monday, April 29^th

Book review at Hook Kids on Reading

Guest post at The Pen and Ink

Tuesday, April 30^th

Guest post at Write What Inspires You

Wednesday, May 1^st

Book review at LadyD Books

Thursday, May 2^nd

Book review at Kid Lit Reviews

Friday, May 3^rd

Guest post at Lori’s Reading Corner

Monday, May 6^th

Interview at Tribute Books Reviews and Giveaways

Tuesday, May 7^th

Book reviewed at The Picture Book Review

Wednesday, May 8^th

Book reviewed at My Devotional Thoughts

Thursday, May 9^th

Book review at It’s About Time Mamaw

Friday, May 10^th

Book review at The Children’s and Teens’ Book Connection

Monday, May 13^th

Book review at 4 the Love of Books

Tuesday, May 14^th

Book spotlight at Review from Here

Book review at The Jenny Revolution

Wednesday, May 15^th

Guest post at Literarily Speaking

Thursday, May 16^th

Book review at Mrs. Mommy Booknerd’s Reviews

Friday, May 17^th

Book spotlight at I’m A Reader, Not A Writer

 

 

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Age Range: 9 and up
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (May 28, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0375971424
ISBN-13: 978-0375971426

Julian Twerski isn’t a bully. He’s just made a big mistake. He has done something he is deeply ashamed of, something that goes against the grain of his conscience. When he returns to school after a weeklong suspension, his English teacher offers him a deal: if he keeps a journal and writes about the incident that got him and his friends suspended, he can get out of writing a report on Shakespeare. Julian jumps at the chance. And so begins his account of life in sixth grade—blowing up homemade fireworks, writing a love letter for his best friend (with disastrous results), and worrying whether he’s still the fastest kid in school. Lurking in the background, though, is the one story he can’t bring himself to tell, the one story his teacher most wants to hear.

There’s nothing like a ‘real’ story to bring a smile to one’s face. The book was inspired by author Mark Goldblatt’s own childhood growing up in Queens during the 1960s. Reading it, one can’t help being taken back to the ‘growing up’ years, when everything is confusing, nothing goes right, everyone else is cooler/faster/cleverer and girls are an unfathomable mystery. Told from Julian’s point of view in typical middle-grader stream of consciousness, the author takes the reader on a trip back in time. Incidents pack Julian’s life and he reacts to them in a visceral and sometimes confused way. Life lessons can be hard, and Julian rolls with the punches, doing his best. He doesn’t always pull it off, but he does make sense of things where he can. Julian is a likeable character and he truly does want to make amends. Kids will enjoy this, but I think their parents will also relish this trip down Memory Lane. Times may change, but kids don’t. Author Mark Goldblatt’s style is quirky and different, but appealing with a touch of nostalgia. Five stars.

About the author: Mark Goldblatt is a lot like Julian Twerski, only not as interesting (that’s what he says!). He is a widely published columnist, a novelist, and a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Twerp is his first book for younger readers. He lives in New York City.

Please note that I reviewed an ARC. The book will be available on 28 May 2013.

Reviewer’s bio: Fiona Ingram is an award-winning middle grade author who is passionate about getting kids interested in reading. Find out more about Fiona and her books on www.FionaIngram.com. She reviews books for the Jozikids Blog.

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Immigration, refugees, asylum seekers… it’s a hot topic, laden with emotion and misconceptions. SBS takes an innovative look at the issue with their series Go Back to Where You Came From, as well as having some great school resources available online. But what are the best YA reads that address this issue in a modern way?

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

Really, does it get any more beautiful than Shaun Tan’s wordless, sepia sketched story of a man’s immigration from a country of darkness to a bewildering (but safe) new society? No. No it doesn’t.

Hachette

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No Safe Place by Deborah Ellis

Ellis is renowned for sharing the stories of those affected by war, from the fictionalised account of a teenager trying to live outside a refugee camps in the Middle East in Shauzia, to the non-fiction account of Iraqi child refugees in Children of War.

No Safe Place is a tale of adventure, following three teen asylum seekers trying to make it to the safety of England.

Allen & Unwin

Growing Up Asian in Australia edited by Alice Pung

A collection of stories that takes a first-hand look at the experience of migration and multiculturalism. Shaun Tan, Leanne Hall, and Oliver Phommevanh (see also: Thai-riffic) are among the many contributors.

Alice Pung has also shared her own family’s immigration story in the exquisitely written Unpolished Gem and Her Father’s Daughter.

Black Inc

The Lumatere Chronicles by Melina Marchetta

Marchetta is well-known for the Italian-Australian character Josie Alibrandi - her transition from teen to adult, and the family secret her grandmother has kept hidden since her migrant days.

I’d really love to highlight Marchetta’s latest work, however. The Lumatere Chronicles explores the devastating situation of refugees in a fantasy (but all too real) world. This is not a place of wizards and elves, but a land of curses and displaced people. Placing this contemporary issue in a fantasy world only serves only to highlight the universality of these emotions and experiences. The final installment in the trilogy, Quintana of Charyn comes out next week (26 September), so now you can read them all at once.

Penguin

Walk in My Shoes by Alwyn Evans

Gulnessa and her family are ‘boat people’. Fleeing war-torn Afghanistan they make the perrilous journey to Australia, only to be placed in a detention centre.

Penguin

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Watership Down by Richard Adams

The original but timeless refugee story – where anthropomorphised rabbits must find a new home after their warren is destroyed.

Simon & Schuster

 

 ..

 

Other titles to consider:

• Does My Head Look Big In This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah looks at the contemporary life of a Muslim teen girl, primarily focussing on the broader theme of multiculturalism in Australia, but also touching on the immigrant experience.
• Only The Heart by Brian Caswell and David Phu An Chiem – Toan and Linh flee post-war Saigon.
• Boy Overboard and Girl Underground by Morris Gleitzman, for Middle Grade appropriate depictions of the journey of an asylum seeker, and life in a detention camp, respectively.

What are your recommendations?

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With a tagline like ‘celebrating the freedom to read’ is it no wonder bannedbooksweek.org is a favourite?

For thirty years banned book week been reporting on book censorship in America.

Hundreds of books have been either removed or challenged in schools and libraries in the United States every year. According to the American Library Association (ALA), there were at least 326 in 2011.  ALA estimates that 70 to 80 percent are never reported.

In 2011, the 10 most challenged books were:

ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: offensive language; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

ttyl is a constant stream of IM chat, email and texts between three friends ‘SnowAngel’, ‘zoegirl’ and ‘madmaddie’. It’s a little of a shock to read as the language is expressed in a short hand that seems impossible, yet is a reflection of how teens are interacting online, and the topics discussed break the barriers of ‘polite’ conversation.

The Color of Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa
Reasons: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

A graphic novel that explores a daughter’s relationship with her mother, and the social ramifications of being a ‘single’ mother in Korea. The minimal nudity and implied sexual acts pales in comparison to the lyric-like qualities in the writing and the strength of the mother-daughter relationship.

The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins
Reasons: anti-ethnic; anti-family; insensitivity; offensive language; occult/satanic; violence

A very popular series that has encouraged many ‘non-readers’ to open up it’s pages and delve into a world of action, adventure and romance. I find it interesting that in it’s ‘book’ format, The Hunger Games finds itself on the 10 most challenged book lists. In ‘movie’ format, it finds itself the number one box hit of 2012. This implies to me that there are two standards when a story is told. When in a movie format, the level of ‘violence’ is more readily accepted then in a book format.

My Mom’s Having A Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Dori Hillestad Butler
Reasons: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

A children’s picture book that describes the experiences of Elizabeth, a soon to be older sibling as her mother goes through pregnancy. There is language about the human body, reproduction and child development. Some of the language, such as sperm, has caused parents to ask for the book to be banned from their libraries.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: offensive language; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

Alexie chose to respond in the Wall Street Journal, in 2011, about the push to ban his book due to it’s content.

“I have yet to receive a letter from a child somehow debilitated by the domestic violence, drug abuse, racism, poverty, sexuality, and murder contained in my book. To the contrary, kids as young as ten have sent me autobiographical letters written in crayon, complete with drawings inspired by my book, that are just as dark, terrifying, and redemptive as anything I’ve ever read.”

With books that deal with such strong issues it can be quite confronting and distressing for some. When that is balanced against the children it has managed to reach because they know the same type of pain or humiliation or depression and find solace in knowing that they are not alone, then you need to make that book accessible to them.

Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Reasons: nudity; offensive language; religious viewpoint

A twenty-four strong series that explores the world through the eyes of Alice, who is on the cusp of becoming a teenager. There are cringe worthy moments of embarrassment, new friends, new love interests and a role model or two.

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Reasons: insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit

When a book is 81 years old and still in-print, I find it shocking that people would still wish to ban it. It’s not longer just a work or fiction, but part of the history of fiction.

What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
Reasons: nudity; offensive language; sexually explicit

Another of those lighter books that explores being a teenage girl and all that entails. I’m extremely disappointed (although not surprised) that nearly all the books on this list involve women protagonists. It feels like we’re continuing a 1950′s women belong in the kitchen mentality. I have to question why women aren’t allowed to explore their sexuality and men are.

Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily Von Ziegesar
Reasons: drugs; offensive language; sexually explicit

Another book that has made itself onto the (not as) big screen. As a weekly television show for CW it sees millions of viewers. As a book it sees itself in the number 9 position for most banned books in 2011. Too rich teenagers, drugs, drinking and sexual encounters. It looks at it all.

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Reasons: offensive language; racism

New rule; if a book has been in-print for 52 years, it also shouldn’t find itself on the most challenged book list. When complaints are made that To Kill a Mockingbird should be censored because of ‘racism’ I’m unnerved by the lack of comprehension of social commentary and injustice. When a book chooses to hold a mirror up to the law to demonstrate the social inequity that was part of American history… well I’m on board with that book.

 

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PARALLELOGRAM 3:  SEIZE THE PARALLEL is coming soon, but while you’re waiting you can enter to win a new adult…

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While Adele was regaling us with stories from her American visit, I was intrigued by one of the talks she went to titled ‘Literary Friendships’. I was struck anew by the regard authors hold for other authors. The following is a list of books that are interconnected in different ways.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Just Listen by Sarah Dessen and Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers

Speak is one of those novels that really sticks with the reader – and authors are readers too. Some Girls Are pays homage to Speak, and the scene where Miranda is sexually assaulted, by mirroring it in the first scene of the book. That scene is used as the spark for the rest of the plot. Just Listen has a similar sexual assault scene at a party. Much more muted than Speak and Some Girls Are, it still manages to retain Speak’s message and tone.

 

I think it speaks to how moving and essential Speak (especially that scene) is. It’s been brought back to life in all of these literary variations. I’m so glad the message is still being talked about and that each of the above titles offers a slightly different tone and reaction by the characters. It’s also interesting to see the many variations of the social fallout from such an attack. In Some Girls Are the sexual assault against the main character is used as a platform to begin an extreme and escalating bullying campaign.

 

 

Tithe Series by Holly Black and The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare

These two literary friends cheekily wrote in scenes containing characters from the others’ work. The band Clary listens to ‘Stepping Razor’ appears in Tithe as a secondary character’s (Ellen) band. Clary and Jace also meet the Unseelie Queen, while Kaylee in Tithe catches glimpses of Jace and Clary throughout the series.

 

 

Sarah Dessen

Sarah Dessen often has previous main characters make cameos in her later books, due to her setting. Dessen has her stories centered in the fictional town of Lakeview, and her characters will often vacation in Colby. They aren’t always known to our main protagonist of the moment, so sometimes it’s just a description or the way the character thinks and you are left with an ‘I know that voice’ feeling.

 

Melina Marchetta

Melina tricks me every time.  Don’t get me wrong, I knew The Piper’s Son was a companion to Saving Francesca, but did you know that Ben (the violinist) from Jellicoe features in Piper’s? (He is Justine’s crush). One of the mullet brothers ends up dating the kitchen hand who Tom works with at the pub.  Jonah’s little brother, Danny (Jellicoe), is the protagonist of The Gorgon In The Gully.

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 Twelve-year-old Fern feels invisible. It seems as though everyone in her family has better things to do than pay attention to her: Mom (when she’s not meditating) helps Dad run “Harry’s,” the family restaurant; Sarah is taking a gap year after high school; Holden pretends that Mom and Dad and everyone else doesn’t know he’s gay, even as he fends off bullies at school. Then there’s Charlie: three years old, a “surprise” baby, the center of everyone’s world. He’s devoted to Fern, but he’s annoying, too, always getting his way, always dirty, always commanding attention. If it wasn’t for Ran, Fern’s calm and positive best friend, there’d be nowhere to turn. Ran’s mantra, “All will be well,” is soothing in a way that nothing else seems to be. And when Ran says it, Fern can almost believe it’s true. But then tragedy strikes-and Fern feels not only more alone than ever, but also responsible for the accident that has wrenched her family apart. All will not be well. Or at least all will never be the same.

I was beyond excited when I received this book (Adele picked it up in the States for me and it is hand signed by Jo Knowles… the excitement level is too big to be contained within this post), because Jo Knowles is one of my must-read authors. I was blown away by her debut novel Lessons from a Dead Girl, which I reviewed here. For me, she is essential reading.

I cannot tell you how odd I looked reading this book on the train. The cover all happy and light, while I sat in a vat of hot tears. The other commuters gave me a wide berth, to say the least.

A warning that my review will be riddled with spoilers – I’ve tried to write the review without spoilers and it just didn’t come together, or make much sense – so please do not read on if you wish to remain unspoiled. For those of you who will dash away from this review, before you go I’d implore you to put SYaH’s in your reading pile. It is a beautifully written book with a great cast of believable characters.

I did not want the book to end.

I was so engaged and enchanted with SYaH’s that once completed I spent my time imagining possible sequels and adventures for Fern. I want to be a part of Fern’s life. I want to check in with her as she grows up. I want to see her learn from life’s lesson. I want to see her family and friends again. I want to know if she’s passing maths. I want to know it all. I fell so deeply in love with the characters that I cannot ever imagine letting them go. SYaH’s became a friend. Is it weird to have a book as a friend? One who you laugh with; cry with; have in-jokes with.

I was surprised by the direction this book ended up taking. I thought the storyline would be a predictable arc, and that the real meat of the novel would be in the characters and their interactions. I was half right. Jo Knowles knows how to write characters you cannot help but love. It was the story arc that got me. I was completely unprepared for it, and as a consequence was the crazy commuter sobbing in carriage one.

You see, Jo Knowles had an older brother who was gay and sadly died of AIDS, and a classmate who committed suicide during high school. When Fern’s older brother, Holden, is bullied on the school bus I thought I knew where this story was going. I thought it was going to be a terribly sad tale of a boy who was ridiculed and abused for his sexuality, and who found solace in death. It is perhaps why I had such a reaction to this book, I was prepared for one tragedy but not another. You see, Holden doesn’t die. Instead the family wake one morning, just like any other morning, to find their youngest son, Charlie, dead in his bed. Sometime during the night he had suffered a massive brain aneurism. I cannot tell you how destroyed I felt. Knowles had captivated Charlie’s utter joy in life, he’s sweet innocence, the depth of he’s imagination, all by page 1. So I cried and cried and cried on that carriage. It was the shock that a character had given me joy for a 100 plus pages and that I would never read that joy again. I was heartbroken.

The rest of the story revolves around a family and their grieving process. Such a raw and painful process to view, but one that resonates with anyone who has lost a loved one.

Jo Knowles’ strength are her characters. Do you know that feeling you get when you’re just waking up, and your dream hasn’t quite left you yet, so reality is a green monkey’s with three heads (don’t ask, I have some odd dreams). That is a Jo Knowles book; a moment in between dream and reality, where I honestly believe with all my heart that Fern, Ran and Charlie are all alive out there, just waiting to be my friend.

I’m so unbelievably sad that they’re not real. That my reality isn’t Fern and co. But every time I open that book they do become real. I hope one of your teenagers walk away feeling like they made a friend too.

 

Walker Books

 

 

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When the chance came to review another of Jessica Bell's books, I jumped at it. I loved her writing exercise and instruction book:  Show & Tell in a Nutshell! This novella, The Book, caught my attention immediately--mostly because of the different formats--journal entries, doctor/patient transcripts, and narrative in a child's voice. I know I've already caught your interest with just that list, so wait until you read on. . .

It doesn’t take a tome of 500 pages to tell a powerful, gripping and captivating story. Jessica has managed to do this in less than 150 pages in The Book. Jessica, also an author of poetry and nonfiction, takes on a unique voice for one of the narrators of her book—a five-year-old child, Bonnie; she truly captivates this voice, taking the reader through the story of the girl’s estranged parents and herself trying to figure out her young and confusing life full of adults always acting strangely.

The title comes from a book, which most would call a journal or diary, that Bonnie’s parents started writing in before she was even born. John, her father, has the idea to write special messages to his daughter and to give “The Book” to her when she is older. Penny, her mother, is the one who actually writes in it more, and eventually it becomes a diary for her mother, more than a message for the daughter.

The Book is divided into three parts: “Love is the Beginning,” “Love is a Weapon,” and “Love is Tangible.” In each part, Penny or John tell their side of the story and their feelings through their writings in “The Book”; Bonnie adds to the story through her narration for the reader; and transcripts of Bonnie speaking to a psychiatrist, Dr. Wright, are also included. All of these parts and various techniques work together to complete the story of Bonnie and her parents.

The reader learns that John and Penny don’t stay together after Bonnie’s born, and Penny starts a new relationship with Ted—who has a temper with a violent side. Bonnie explains to the reader what she sees going on in the lives of the adults around her, from her dad’s new family to her mom’s emotional side to “my Ted’s” outbursts.

Bonnie sees the biggest problem as “The Book.” She thinks it is what causes the difficulties in her life and the lives of her loved ones. She wants to destroy it and is just waiting for the chance to get it away from her mother and make everything better for everyone.

Jessica Bell

What Jessica does so well in this short novel is take on the different voices of the characters—readers will be able to hear the child trying to figure out her world in Bonnie’s narrative, while sympathizing with John and Penny who aren’t sure if they made the right choice to split apart. When Jessica writes as John in “The Book,” he has a distinct way of writing, which is different than Penny—this distinction and technique with voice are the marks of a talented writer.

The ending is shocking and can be somewhat disturbing, but it’s realistic, heartfelt, and certainly satisfying after spending several hours getting to know the characters in The Book.

Jessica is a native-Australian who lives in Athens, Greece. She is also a singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She makes a living as an editor and writer for English language teaching publishers worldwide, such as Pearson Education, HarperCollins, Macmillan Education, Education First and Cengage Learning. She also runs the Homeric Writers' Retreat and Workshop in Ithaca, Greece, which is an annual week-long workshop for writers with instruction from experts in the field. Recently, she re-released her full-length novel, String Bridge, complete with a cover makeover, and is giving away the digital version of the accompanying soundtrack (which is amazing, by the way!) with every purchase.

The Book is a fast read, but one that you will want to read again. The characters are complex, which makes the story memorable, and a great one to discuss in a book club. If you haven’t checked out anything Jessica Bell has written yet, then why not start with The Book?

Margo L. Dill is the author of Finding My Place: One Girl’s Strength at Vicksburg, a middle-grade (ages 9 to 12) historical fiction novel.


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Andrew Smith, editor of the Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink, thinks we should all know a bit more about hamburgers. See how meat-savvy you are below.  Just so you know, I failed.  I guess meat-ignorance comes with being a vegetarian! Answers at the end.

1. The first national hamburger chain was:
A. McDonald’s
B. Bob’s Big Boy
C. White Tower
D. White Castle
E. Wimpy (more…)

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Ginny is just going into 7th grade, and she has a plan. From getting a new dad to looking good in her school photo, her list runs the gambit.

Through a series of lists, letters, IMs, report cards, post-its, detention slips, brother-drawn comics, and overdue slips, readers get a real sense of what's going on in Ginny's life.

While the format is super-cute, Jennifer Holm (yes of Babymouse and others) tackles some meaty issues. Ginny's dad was killed by a drunk-driver, and now her older somewhat delinquent brother seems to be on the same path as the teen who killed their father. Ginny is also dealing with more typical middle school issues. Mary Catherine Kelly still has Ginny's sweater, and she stillhasn't spoken to Ginny since she got the prime part at their ballet school. Ginny is also on a quest to make her nose seems smaller, and is wondering what to do about the fact that Brian Bukvic keeps bugging her.

Ginny's got a great relationship with her mom and her Fairy Grandfather, which is evident through artifacts like long-distance phone bills (Grandpa is in Florida), and the notes that her mother leaves for her. Even though readers get a sense of family distance from the sheer volume of notes to each other, the author has managed to develop the character of the family itself so that the reader really can feel the love they all have for each other.

I am going to be recommending this to reluctant readers, and also to the students looking for a super fast, yet thoughtful read.

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Today's Reader Question is one that I address nearly every day in my writing.

In MG and YA novels, do you ever use diction from other cultures or parts of the country in your characterizations? Or do you focus more on a character's actions, behavior and gestures to define them?

Great question! And my answer is....it depends!

My novels (so far) have taken place in very specific places and times (Jackson, Mississippi, 1964-65 and Pittsburgh, 1943-44). Because the setting in these books (Yankee Girl and Jimmy's Stars) has the same weight and importance as my main characters, to ignore how characters sound style: is a lost opportunity to add another dimension not only to the characters, but to the entire story as well.

The way people talk has always been a big issue in my own life. I moved to the South from the Midwest when I was ten, and to this day, whenever I open my mouth, native Southerners say "You're not from around here, are you?" Most of my cousins are Pittsburgh-born and raised. When we talk, I note the difference in their sentence structure, and the local expressions that pepper their conversation. Pittsburghers are so proud of their unique vocabulary, it has been officially dubbed "Pittsburgh-ese", complete with dictionaries, websites and cultural studies.

In a mobile society that has been made ever smaller by TV and the Internet, Americans are losing their geographical and cultural speech patterns. We are beginning to all sound alike, with a homogenized "standard Broadcast American Speech" *sd they called in Speech Class) I think it's sad. We lose something of our roots in the disappearance of "local color" in our language.

So to answer the question, I often use speech as an component equal to action and gesture in developing a multi-dimensional character and to add depth to my fictional word. HOWEVER...

Pure dialect or dialog written entirely using regional expressions can be murder to read. Maybe it's just me, but looking at a page that thick with apostrophes substituting for all the dropped "g's" in an attempt to "sound Southern," makes my eyes hurt. (If you don't believe me, find an old edition of anything by Joel Chandler Harris.) If you don't have an issue with your vision, then try reading the page out loud. For me, anything that I can't read aloud smoothly, is not great writing. If I have to re-read a dialect-laden sentence over and over to puzzle out what the heck the writer is trying to say...well, that's a sign of dialect overkill. Using dialect correctly is a tightrope act. Too little of it, and it calls attention to itself, which of course, takes the reader of the fictional world you have worked so hard to create. Too much of it, and it's like someone dumped a bottle of Tabasco sauce on your meatloaf. A little brings out the flavor; too much, and your dinner is simply inedible.

The trick to using dialect and local speech is a light hand in places where the meaning can be understood in context. It's aeasy to fall into a trap of stereotypical speech. All Southerners don't sound alike, just as all Midwesterners or New Yorkers don't sound alike. Listen to your character. Let your character talk to you in his own voice. I find this easy, because I have never attempted a speech style that I haven't heard first hand. I never drop "g's" or the initial sounds of a word to "sound Southern." I prefer to use expressions like "we're fixing to go" or "what're you so ill about?"(Translation: We are about to leave, and why are you in a bad mood). I handled the Pittsburghese in Jimmy;s Starsby using my mother, who left Pittsburgh in 1943, as a model. If the terms "slippy," "lift supper" and "redd up" had remained in her speech after all these years, they must be central to Pittsburghese, and fairly easy for the outsider to comprehend in context. (Translation: slippery, put a meal on the table, and to clean up a room)

Sometimes speech has more to do with the age and social class of a character. I have a pet peeve of indicating the age of a young character by using the words "gonna," "gotta" and "wanna". (In fact, when I teach Young Writers classes, some of my students are surprised to find out that these are not actual words!) If I use each one of those words once in a book, I feel that I have taken a short cut by resorting to the stereotypical "mush-mouth" teenspeek There are other ways to accomplish the same effect. Kids don't talk in complete sentences. They use contractions. They sometimes use incorrect grammar. They run words together. They talk in Text Speak. Ok, I made up the term, but some of my fifteen-year-old's friends do say things like "You're my BFF" or "OMG, OMG" (and if you don't know what those mean, you need to eavesdrop on kids more often!) Again, all kids don't sound alike. Let your character be your guide.

My last point has to do with the use of historically accurate terms. Or, if you don't write historical fiction, allowing your contemporary characters use outdated or archaic expressions. Like from when we grew up. You know what I mean? Like groovy? Can you dig? (Hopefully your mental ears are hurting by now as I "laid my best 60's jive on you.") If you DO write historical fiction, you have to be aware that some commonly used words today had an entirely different meaning fifty, thirty, even ten years ago. Believe it or not, there was a time when there were no "nerds." When I was in junior high (oops middle school), ners were "goobs" or "social mistfits" and several less politically correct terms. Yes, sometimes I douse politically incorrect words, but only if absolutely essential to the story and character, and never, if there is an acceptable equivalent...like "goobs." In Jimmy's Stars"goobs" were "sad apples", "wet blankets" or "drips." Again, who says this, and in what context, should make the meaning apparent to the reader.

To sum up (finally!!), in using dialect and expressions, less is more. More is...too much of a good thing. Easy with the Tabasco.

THIS WEEK'S READING. I've been slacking a little since school has started here (always a trauma at my house.) But here is what I've managed to digest between High School Emergencies:

CHAPTER BOOK: For the Durationby Tomie DePaolaNi
MG/YA: Night Firesby George Edward Stanley
MG/YA CONTEMPORARY: Slobby Ellen Potter
YA FICTION: Afterby Amy Efaw, Jumping Off Swingsby Jo Knowles, Donut Daysby Lara Zielin
YA NON FICTION: Years of Dustby Albert Marrin
ADULT MEMOIR: The Slippery Yearby Melanie Gideon.

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Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day here in the United States. For most of us, that means celebrating with a big turkey dinner. However, in my Italian-immigrant family, every holiday calls for a multi-course dinner that typically consists of antipasto, soup, bread, pasta, meatballs, salad, cooked vegetables, roasted meat, potatoes, fresh fruit, and dessert. For Thanksgiving, we simply accommodate the turkey tradition by featuring the bird as our roasted meat.

I am so used to our family’s customs that I neglected to prepare my husband (then boyfriend) before he attended his first Thanksgiving dinner with my family. When my mother served homemade fettuccine and meatballs (following the requisite antipasto and soup), he assumed there would be no turkey. Being an easy-going guy, he didn’t say anything and simply ate his fill of pasta and meatballs.
Well, imagine his surprise when we whisked the pasta plates away and my mother brought out the bird, vegetables, and potatoes. Afterward, he told me he'd been too full to have more than a bite of turkey, and as a result, it hadn’t felt much like Thanksgiving to him. (Now he knows to pace himself, which I’m sure he’ll do tomorrow when we celebrate at my aunt’s.) Ironically, for me it wouldn’t have felt like Thanksgiving without pasta.

In this series of posts, we’ve been talking about the role of food in fiction. As JoAnn discussed, food can “ground fantasy in reality.” I agree. I also believe food plays an especially important role in historical and multicultural fiction. Everyone has to eat. Seeing what a character does and doesn’t eat can give readers insight into that character’s world, whether it’s a world of Scrapple and food rationing, as Mary Ann described in her post, or one where Christmas Eve dinner revolves around seafood, as in my novel Rosa, Sola. Because food-related customs and rituals can serve to bind people together or to set them apart, food can affect a character’s relationships, too. I still recall feeling like an outsider at lunch in elementary school. While other kids were eating peanut butter and jelly on squishy white bread, I had to deal with mortadella on crumbly, homemade Italian bread. No one ever swapped sandwiches with me!

Of course, food can be a characterization tool in all types of fiction. Like real people, characters may have quirky food preferences, preferences that can even affect a story’s plot. We see this in picture books like I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato by Lauren Child and I'd Really Like To Eat a Child by Sylviane Donnio, illustrated by Dorothee de Monfreid. But food preferences can also play a role in middle-grade and young-adult stories. After all, where would the plot of Twilight and other vampire books be if vampires craved macaroni and cheese instead of human blood?

For everyone celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow, I wish you a happy

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Today we have author Meradeth Houston. She has graciously answered several questions about her book and writing in general. Meradeth, Welcome. Continue reading →

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This weekend provided lots of time to be thankful--Thank you, WOW! and our wonderful readers!

The holiday weekend also gave me lots of time to clean up the house. It is the perfect procrastination technique and it impresses my in-laws. I don't know about you, but most of the time when I find myself in such a cleaning frenzy, it is because I'm trying to find something: missing car keys, important to-do lists, CDs, a favorite pen, the book I was just reading mere pages from the end?

My oldest took a look at the flurry of activity and wondered if I was hunting for the "Island of the Blue Dolphins," which she has just been assigned in school after reading (and re-reading) it two years ago.

A (very) worn library copy of "Island" covers a great book for reading and writing inspiration.

"I let my friend borrow it last year and she says it hasn't found it even though she's cleaned up her room," my daughter said. (The room-cleaning habits of 10-year-old kids could fill a book, so I'll stop myself before I wander down that narrative path.)

Alas, no "Island" in all my cleaning and so a library trip now appears on a new to-do list...another piece of paper for me to lose. I did find my teacher's copy of Telling Stories: An Anthology for Writers, which is edited  by Joyce Carol Oates.

Telling Stories is a superb collection of great tales, grouped in eight wonderfully named sections, such as "Dramatic Monologues," "Re-Visions: Reappropriations," and "Genre: Horror." Her introduction will hasten many readers to stop reading, to drop the book, to run get a notebook and pen, to start to tell a story. In fact, she begs that we tell our stories because we all have a strong instinct to be storytellers.

I hadn't picked up the well-worn copy in nearly a decade and was amazed by my margin notes, underlining, and check marks throughout. I was also amazed I have apparently left some stories unread.  (Unread stories: another addition to the to-do list.)

I wish I could share more than just mere snippets here, maybe turning this into a psuedo-guest post by Joyce Carol Oates? Since she is so prolific, perhaps she might not notice? Nah. I wouldn't do that, but I will leave you with a sentence from her introduction that speaks to me and, I hope, to you:

"Every book, every story, every sentence we read is a part of our preparation for our own writing, so it's wise to choose our reading carefully, as an athlete trains carefully, as a musician practices at his or her instrument for hours and for years in pursuit of excellence, of fully realizing a talent."

Again, many thanks to our fantastic readers. Thank you for reading...now, go grab a pen and paper and start telling your stories.

Elizabeth King Humphrey is a North Carolina-based writer and editor. Follow her on Twitter @Eliz_Humphrey as she documents her reading of the short stories she missed reading in Telling Stories.





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We’ve been surrounded by older male protagonists recently. Firstly there was Jordi’s review of Fire in the Sea, then there was our older male protagonists book list, and now it’s Trish Doller’s Something Like Normal.

When Travis returns home from a stint in Afghanistan, his parents are splitting up, his brother’s stolen his girlfriend and his car, and he’s haunted by nightmares of his best friend’s death. It’s not until Travis runs into Harper, a girl he’s had a rocky relationship with since middle school, that life actually starts looking up. And as he and Harper see more of each other, he begins to pick his way through the minefield of family problems and post-traumatic stress to the possibility of a life that might resemble normal again.

Male protagonists are hard to get right, I think. No matter the type of protagonist- sweet talking or plain speaking, the screw up or the straight and narrow, quiet or loud- the character deserves to have life breathed into them. They deserve to feel and express the vast emotions in our world. Sometimes I wonder if male protagonists get a bit of a hard deal. Do we let male protagonists express themselves, even in their inner thoughts? Has there been a genderisation of emotions; jealousy is feminine; anger is masculine; love, female; lust, male. Can female authors write true representations of male protagonists? Or is the true male protagonist that made my a male author? Does our very gender limit what we understand? Complex and compelling questions that I don’t have the answer to. I do know that I am harder on female authors writing male protagonists, along with male authors writing female protagonists. Do they really understand, I ask myself. Do I really understand?

All these questions and Something Like Normal helped me turn them off. Travis engaged with me as a reader. He wasn’t a romanticised Romeo, or a wise-cracking Stifler (American Pie). He moved through the plot with the whole range of emotions and he felt them in a unique and characterising way. He wasn’t feeling or expressing them as a man, he was feeling and expressing them as Travis. That’s not to say he didn’t fall into lust or anger, but when he did feel them he was confused and conflicted by them, such as his sexualisation and lust for his ex-girlfriend, Paige, worried him. Their sexual encounters fell flat for Travis because they lacked any kind of emotional connection. They made him feel uncomfortable, bereft and question his integrity as a person. His emotions were complex and conflicting, but he was able to acknowledge them straightforwardly (even if he felt unable to do something about it to break the pattern). I appreciated his honesty, even when I was put off by it (sleeping with his ex-girlfriend, who is currently his brother’s girlfriend, whilst in-like with his first crush). His lust and anger were unique to him, not a production of stereotypes. I didn’t read a female author writing a male protagonist, I read Travis’ story. I believed Travis and I believed Trish Doller.

His relationship with his mother was a highlight for me. It was really honest and one of the few times I’ve read where the complexity of mother-son relationships was focused on. Travis feels that he is to blame for the sadness that permeates his mother’s life, and he f

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This week was a bit of a hectic week for the CYL team; there was Inky and his shortlist announcement and there was MWF.

MWF was great fun for us all. We met some really great authors and had a lot of great panel conversations. Below is a recommended reading list from the panel ‘Read Any Good Books Lately’, with Adele Walsh, Lili Wilkinson and Melissa Traverso.

A Straight Line to my Heart by Bill Condon

A warm tale about Tiff and that in-between time of life where you’re no longer and teenager but not yet an adult. A fairly simple plot where the strength lies in it’s feelings and connections of family, friends and life.

Allen and Unwin

Friday Brown by Vikki Wakefield

Vikki Wakefield has such a unique voice and writing style that her stories leave you slightly off kilter. Like you’ve missed a step and had to skip to catch up. Friday Brown finds herself in the seething underground of Australian slums; homeless, afraid and trapped by a curse.

Text Publishing 

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

A very very laugh out loud funny story of Greg, his best friend Earl and Rachel (recently diagnosed with leukaemia). Greg is a jokester; funny, self-deprecating and honest. It would be easy to dismiss this book as just another ‘cancer’ book, but instead it takes on the role of showing the lighter side of a serious subject. There is no miracle save or life lesson. Sometimes death is just death.

Allen and Unwin

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Much like Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is not just a ‘cancer’ book, John Green’s Fault in Our Stars takes a walk on the humorous side of death. There are tears of laughter and despair throughout Hazel and Augustus’ tale. It was a glimpse at the sweetest of every emotion, because there was always the thought that this might be the last.

Penguin

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

Another cusp of life story featuring Ed and Lucy. The adventure they take over one night, the hardships and prejudices they must face, and the decisions they must make to keep their lives moving forward and their futures bright with possibility.

Pan Macmillan

Other titles discussed as must reads-

Only Ever Always by Penni Russon

This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

The List by Siobhan Vivian

The Deep: Here be Dragons by Tom Taylor and James Brouwer

 

 

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Next up in our Inky Awards series is A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness.

The monster showed up just after midnight. As they do. But it isn t the monster Conor’s been expecting. He’s been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming… The monster in his back garden, though, this monster is something different. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.

It becomes quickly apparent to the reader that Conor is drowning. His mother is on her third round of chemotherapy and she is dying. In fact she has barely days to live. It is also apparent that the monster wants the most dangerous thing of all; Conor’s secret shame.

What is absolutely heartbreaking about this novel is the yearning Conor experiences. He’s whole world is about to open up and disappear before him. His mother will leave him, just as his father left him for a new family. He will be cared for by an emotionally cold grandmother. He has no friends (having found himself alienated from everyone after his mother’s sickness became public knowledge), he is being physically and emotionally bullied by a boy in his class, and he is unraveling in the face of his, and his mother’s, reality.

I’m not ashamed to admit I cried during a majority of A Monster Calls. Around page 100 I gave up the gig and just sobbed (opposed to the don’tlookatme crying I was originally attempting). The strength of the novel is in Ness’ ability to create voice. Conor feels as real as you and I. He is a character that you willingly emotionally tie yourself to. He compels your compassion and sympathy, despite knowing that there is only heart break around the corner.

A Monster Calls is a simple story. There are no surprises of plot or miracle cures, it is just the sad tale of Conor in the last days of his mother’s life. The complexity of Conor’s emotions -anger, shame, abandonment, hate, love, sadness -  all wrapped up in Patrick Ness’ accessible writing style, and it is Ness who is the conduit here, ties us deftly and (so very) easily to Conor.

Complimenting the text is the illustrations by Jim Kay. I cannot imagine one without the other; they are two parts of a whole. It was an extremely interesting partnership as Ness’ writing is often very visual. Accompanied by the illustrations, this novel felt like a silent movie. The impressions of the drawings follow you while you’re reading; the monster fills your conscience, large and imposing.

Another brilliant performance by Patrick Ness, after his success with the Chaos Walking Trilogy.

Walker Books

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I think I was a little ambitious when I went with this list; there are too many to choose from! I’ll revisit the topic at a later date for part two.  For the moment, here is a small selection of books that use music in some way.

Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John

Piper is a strong and fearless character with a voice that jumps out of the page at you. She also just happens to be deaf. It was one of those wonderful moments where I realised the author had pulled the wool over my reading eyes and I had no idea until Piper told me outright (page 5) that she’s deaf. In those two little words, ‘I’m deaf’, the author had me questioning the way I read characters – why is the assumption that they can always hear? or see?

If I Stay Series by Gayle Forman

A little different from the rest of our selection, If I Stay focus is that of classical music and the bond Mia feels with music and her instrument, all the while

Audrey Wait by Robin Benway

When Audrey breaks up with her musician boyfriend, he ends up writing a song about her that becomes an instant hit.  Suddenly Audrey is notorious and everyone has an opinion about her.  But do they want to know the real story behind the song?

Chasing Charlie Duskin by Cath Crowley

Interspersed throughout the book with song lyrics, Chasing Charlie Duskin follows Charlie – a shy and lonely character who begins to live with the help of music and friendship – and Rose – who appears to live life to the full, but is desperate to escape her small town. Crowley’s writing often comes at you with such raw intensity and so poetically, it feels like a song lyrics.

Love Struck Summer by Melissa Walker

Quinn is an indie rock music junkie on summer vacation – no where near the music internship she would have died to have gotten. Making the best of a music-less situation, she sets her sites on local DJ Sebastian, but then there’s Russ who has no idea about music, but is an all around nice Austin guy…and what’s a music indie rock chick to do? Love Struck is a romantic comedy with a musical twist.

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn

Two starry-eyed teenagers, on the cusp of adulthood, embark on a musical journey to find the fabled rock band Where’s Fluffy. On the way there is angst, New York City, love, friendship, more angst and lots of playlists.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

For Charlie, our protagonist, music moves him. It invites him to feel deeply about things around him. He spends his time paying it forward by making mix tapes for his friends. At one stage, he reminisces about when he was younger and stole the mixed types his sister’s boyfriend would give her. While music isn’t the main focus of Perks, it does show how Charlie is able to connect with his friends via his gifts of mixed tapes.

-Charlie’s mixtape 

Asleep by the Smiths
Vapour Trail by Ride
Scarborough Fair by Simon & Garfunkel
A Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum
Dear Prudence by the Beatles
Gypsy by Suzanne Vega
Nights in White Satin by the Moody Blues
Daydream by Smashing Pumpkins
Dusk by Genesis (before Phil Collins was even in the band!)
MLK by U2
Blackbird by the Beatles
Landslide by Fleetwood Mac
Asleep by the Smiths (again!)

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This week’s Inky Award shortlist review is all about The Reluctant Hallelujah by Gabrielle Williams. As this title has already been reviewed here on Read Alert by CYL staffer Liz Kemp, today I’m going to give you something a little different… how to pitch The Reluctant Hallelujah to students:

The best way to pitch The Reluctant Hallelujah is to give away as little as possible. Character voices are optional. Dramatic pauses are not…

One afternoon Dodie’s (pronounced doe-dee) parents don’t come home. She figures it’s no big deal – they’re busy people and must be working late. She goes to bed, wakes up the next morning… still no sign of them.

‘Well,’ she thinks, ’they must have gotten home so late they didn’t want to wake us, and they’ve left early for a breakfast meeting. It’s strange they haven’t left a note, but they must have just forgotten.’

She goes to school and a guy who usually never talks to her, comes up and asks “Are your parents okay?” … This is definitely weird.

Eventually she tells him “Actually, I haven’t seen them. They didn’t come home last night.”
“Okay,” he says, “I need to go to your house right now and get something out of your basement.”
…”We don’t have a basement.”

…

It turns out they do have a basement – locked and hidden under the lounge room carpet. And in this basement is something that Dodie’s family have been guarding for generations.
And now to save her parents Dodie has to transport it from Melbourne to Sydney. And she only has her Learner’s permit.

Students love guessing what this hidden object might be. A nuclear bomb? A King? Superman? Something magic? Something powerful?

Of course it doesn’t take much research or reading to learn that it is, in fact, the physical remains of Jesus Christ. Rest assured, Williams manages to tread the very fine line between irreverence and imagination. The Reluctant Hallelujah is, really, a road-trip adventure story. Which just happens to have Jesus along for the ride.

Other “sales points” worth mentioning are:

• The Reluctant Hallelujah features contemporary teenagers in a way that isn’t forced or trying to be cool (like, when authors try to be all YOLO and LOL hai guise I’m just, like, one of you). For example, the bad guys seem to have an uncanny knack for keeping on Dodie’s trail – turns out this is because her sister can’t resist updating her facebook status.
• It also (with beauty and ease) captures the contemporary world – not only is Dodie caught in a “keep Jesus out of the hands of the bad guys” chase through the tunnels of Melbourne (totally real), and along the back roads of Victoria and New South Wales, but her actions have real-world consequences too e.g. her disappearance catches the attention of her friends, her school, and the police.
• If you’re looking for a book that touches on disability – specifically how people with disabilities are often invisibile in society – The Reluctant Hallelujah ticks that box too. (Dodie & co simultaneously “hide” and move Jesus about by placing Him in a wheelchair.)

So if you’re looking for a laugh, a conversation starter, and/or something a bit different – The Reluctant Hallelujah is the book for you.

Don’t forget to send any fans of The Reluctant Hallelujah, or any of our other shortlisted titles to insideadog.com.au/vote

 

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